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  Cherry Hill 3: Starting Over Adalee Scope was a detective in the NYPD until she was shot in the line of duty. Working a desk job after losing four fellow cops, including her partner, was weighing its toll on her emotionally. Heading to her mom's new life in Cherry, Hill Texas, seemed like her only option or at least a stepping stone to a new start. It isn't easy to start over, to deal with her PTSD, or to accept the rules and regulations of a new town with some pretty interesting types of relationships. Soon enough she's caught the eyes of many men, but it's four particular brothers who turn out to have more in common with her than they all think, and who also show her that being vulnerable allows good things to happen, even love.

  When unexpected danger threatens to destroy that love, Adalee is faced with a life threatening encounter, and despite being injured, she's still a tough, determined cop who will not succumb to evil, and who will do whatever it takes to get free or die trying.

  Genres: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Romantic Suspense Length: 36,642

  CHERRY HILL 3:

  STARTING OVER

  Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  Cherry Hill 3: Starting Over Copyright © 2019 by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  ISBN: 978-1-64243-593-1

  First Publication: January 2019

  Cover design by Les Byerley All art and logo copyright © 2019 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  W A RNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

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  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  For all titles by Dixie Lynn Dwyer, please visit www.bookstrand.com/dixie-lynn-dwyer

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHERRY HILL 3:

  STARTING OVER

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Epilogue

  CHERRY HILL 3:

  STARTING OVER

  DIXIE LYNN DWYER

  Copyright © 2019

  Prologue

  A dalee Scope took a deep breath and leaned against the wall. Her heart felt as if it were going to burst through her skin and right out of her chest. Her gun in hand, blood oozed from her side, and she felt the pain increasing, and the adrenaline beginning to leave her body.

  Don’t pass out. Don’t pass the fuck out. There, right there. Get them. Stop them. Don’t let them get away. She closed her eyes, had lowered her police radio enough that she could hear dispatch trying to speak with her and wanting an update.

  Shots fired! Officers down! she had yelled into the radio as she fired her weapon. Now here she was trying to figure out how many there were and whether backup would get here in time. Her radio went off again, dispatch asking for an update, saying help was on the way. The fucking update was that her partner and two other officers were dead. The three men who killed them and shot her were right around the corner. One was injured. She shot him in the chest. She could hear them speaking in Spanish, and they were moving to a van. Her vision blurred, and she thought about her partner, Eddie, his family, wife, kids, the other two cops who lay dead, and how her own father had died in the line of duty when she was only six years old. Everything was going through her head so fast as she processed things in seconds, yet it felt like minutes.

  She peeked around the corner just as another guy, a fourth one, was coming toward her, shocking the hell out of her some more, but she didn’t hesitate. The move surprised them both. He drew his weapon, and she shot him in the head. He went down, and she heard the yelling, couldn’t understand exactly what they were saying, but the tone was fear and panic. She moved along the wall as the other men came out of nowhere and took shots at her, and she knew it was do or die.

  Bang, bang, bang.

  She took them out, heard the sirens blare in the distance, and felt the strike to her arm, to her hip, sending her onto her ass. I got them. I didn’t let them get away. I got them.

  6 Months Later

  Adalee got out of her dad’s old blue Mustang GT. A classic car he had cherished and her mom couldn’t give up or sell but instead passed down to Adalee when she graduated from the NYPD police academy. Adalee appreciated that car, took great care of it, and only took it out on the weekends. After being forced to retire because of an injury to her leg that needed a lot of time to heal, and some PTSD, she left New York and headed to her mom’s home in Texas. A place her mom talked about for the past year and a half, where she opened up Layla’s Boutique. Her mom loved fashion as well as bath products lotions and anything that made a woman feel good about herself. Her mom, Layla, would send her things all the time and talk about Cherry Hill and all it had to offer. Adalee was resistant, but she needed change. Needed out of the city, out from the chaos, and to have a new start. She smiled when she entered the main roadway in town and saw all the storefronts and people. It looked like a movie set, almost fake it was so beautiful, so clean and abundant with flowers. It was hard to keep her eyes on the road while also taking in the sights. The storefronts looked antiqued, like they had been there forever, and she remembered her mom mentioning something about the town being over ninety years old or something like that.

  When Adalee was shot multiple times and recovering in the hospital, her mom came to see her, and her mom’s friend and partner in the boutique, Angelina, took care of the store along with some other town people. Her mom said that the town was family oriented and everyone helped out one another in times of need. Adalee was tough though and very independent, despite now having a slight limp, but with physical therapy, it should go away entirely. She had all her medical reports and therapy session information transferred to the local doctor and local physical therapist.

  She spotted her mom’s storefront right away. The fancy lettering, the cool multicolored old brick front, and industrial look to it. There was a perfect spot two storefronts past it, and she parallel parked and took a deep breath and exhaled. Before she even made it out of her car, she heard her name and saw a group of people by the storefront, including her mom, Angelina, three other women, and several men. She locked her door and got to the sidewalk, hugging her mom tight as people she didn’t know smiled wide and welcomed her to Cherry Hill.

  “My God, you look fantastic. How is your hip?” her mom asked, holding onto her. Her mom was a few inches smaller, about five feet three, but their jet-black hair and royal-blue eyes were identical. Her mom wore her hair a little past her shoulders, and Adalee wore hers longer than she had in a while, midback.

  “A little stiff from the ride, but it will be fine. I can’t wait to see the place,” Adalee said, and they smiled at the friends from town who started going their separate ways.

  As they entered the store, Adalee immediately smelled the many fragrances her mom enjoyed making and selling, as she took in the sights of all the beautiful clothing, both casual a
nd more formal, including a section with lingerie.

  “My goodness, you are even more beautiful than the pictures your mom has hanging up around here. They don’t do you justice at all, Adalee. You’re going to have your hands full, Layla,” Angelina said to Adalee, and Adalee gave a soft smile.

  “That’s very sweet of you,” she said, and Layla shook her head smiling like she too couldn’t believe her daughter was here and looked so good. Her mom hugged her arm again.

  “Come see the place. I’ve expanded a little recently, even have some homemade soaps and things that you and I used to make years ago. Remember those?” her mom asked and as she brought her over to the display.

  Adalee was struck emotionally by the sight. Her mom even did the homemade soaps up with sheer fabric bags in white and tied them with little bows in different colors that separated the scents. She lifted up the one with the pink rose petal melted right into the soap and pieces of dried rose as decoration outside of it. She brought it to her nose and inhaled. She remembered the scent, the smell of rose water and jasmine.

  “Oh God, Mom, these are so beautiful. I can remember when I was a kid and we would make these and sell them at the school fair.” She smiled and looked at her mom and Angelina, who both had tears in their eyes.

  “I know. I remember those days, as well, and I thought it would be a great idea to maybe start bringing them into the boutique. It’s just a time factor for me really. I’d love to do more than just a dozen, they sell out so quickly, and people want to place orders for more, but running the shop and sitting on the town board for the fair and festivities committee is just too much,” her mom said as she picked up one of the fancy bags and looked at it as she inhaled and smiled.

  “Well, I’m here now, Mom, and I can help out. Perhaps this might be exactly what I need to help me get through things, ya know?” she said as she looked at the soaps and recalled how therapeutic it was, relaxing, as she would make them with her mom and then decorate them for sale. “You know, we should do what we talked about years ago, and get metal tags made up with initials on them or maybe words in tiny letters like, I don’t know, relax, breathe, hope?”

  “Love?” Angelina said and smiled.

  Adalee smiled and chuckled. “Sure, why not?”

  “Well, I think you just found your new beginning here in Cherry Hill,” Angelina said and then stepped away, leaving Adalee with her mom. They heard the bell chime above the door, but Adalee smiled at her mom and hugged her again as they walked toward the counter.

  “I have to work here for a while longer, but the house is right behind the storefronts up the dirt road. It’s a pretty little blue house with a white fence and flower box windows. You’re going to love it.”

  “I can’t wait to see it. Maybe I’ll check out the town. Walk around a bit.” Her mom’s expression changed, and then she worried her bottom lip.

  “Mom, you said this town is safe, and I was law enforcement. I need to stop in and talk to the local sheriff you mentioned about my guns I have registered and things. Why that face?”

  “Well, I might have not thoroughly mentioned some things.”

  “Mom, what?”

  “Layla, Ashley and her men are looking for those gift sets of wineglasses, but the ones with the purple grapes painted on them. Did we sell the last set yesterday, or are there others in the back?” Angelina Perkins interrupted.

  Adalee looked at the beautiful blond woman with three very big cowboys right next to her, and from here, it appeared the woman was pregnant. She watched as her mom walked over and talked to them and greeted the men who kept close to the woman. One caressed her hair, the other had an arm around her waist, and the third seemed on guard and in a protective stance. “It’s for a gift for Michelle York, no one else bought it for her and her men, did they?” the young pregnant woman asked.

  “No, definitely not. I believe it was someone passing through town visiting a family friend in Central Valley.”

  “Oh, thank goodness. I wanted to shop early so I could find the right gift for her and her men.”

  “Well, this will be lovely. Let me just check in the back room,” her mom said, and then as she walked toward Adalee, she gave a smile and called over her shoulder, “Cassidy, meet my daughter, Adalee. She is moving here from New York and just arrived today.”

  “So nice to meet you, Adalee. My God, your eyes are incredible,” the woman said and reached her hand out for Adalee to shake.

  “Thank you, and you are stunning. How far along are you?” Adalee asked.

  “Seven months,” she said, smiling, and caressed her belly.

  One of the men did the same, and the sight tugged at Adalee’s heart. “I’m Brad, these are my brothers, Roman and Felix.” The one blond-haired man introduced them. She shook their hands, and the men smiled and squinted at her.

  “New in town, have you met Sheriff McCabe?” the one man who looked on guard asked her.

  “Not yet, I just got here about fifteen minutes ago.”

  “Well, be sure to check in with him. He likes to meet the new members of Cherry Hill, give you a warm welcome and see if you need anything at all,” he said, and they looked at her like they had questions.

  Her mom came back in with a box. She started to undo it to check out the glasses and then held one up.

  “Here they are. Beautiful ones,” her mom said.

  “I love them, and Michelle will, too,” Cassidy said.

  “Great, would you like me to wrap them for you?” her mom asked.

  “You don’t mind?”

  “Of course not, come walk over here and see what paper you like,” her mom said, and two of the men walked over with Cassidy to see the paper, but the one man, Felix, who had been on guard, remained.

  “So where from New York are you from?” he asked her.

  “The city.”

  “Really? I haven’t been to New York since about 2010. Was on leave from the Corps with my buddies, and we went for a weekend. It was a lot of fun. Busy though.”

  “Oh yeah, big time. They don’t call it the city that never sleeps for nothing,” she said to him.

  “What brings you to Cherry Hill?” he asked, and she couldn’t help but feel like he was interrogating her, and she put up her guard instinctually.

  “Haven’t seen my mom in a while. I’m looking to help her out with the boutique and see if Cherry Hill is for me,” she said.

  “Well, I’m sure you’re going to love it. Welcome,” he said, and his girlfriend or wife came over, and he slid his arm around her waist and pulled her close.

  Cassidy smiled at Adalee. “Layla, you’re going to have your hands full. Your daughter is stunning.”

  Her mom hugged Adalee’s arm. “I’ve missed her and am so glad that she’s home. I know she’ll love Cherry Hill.”

  “Well, thank you again,” Cassidy said as Brad paid Angelina, and then the three men and very pretty blonde walked out of the place.

  Adalee turned toward her mom and raised one of her eyebrows up at her.

  Layla looked at Angelina. “You didn’t tell her?”

  “She would have rushed to conclusions.”

  “Tell me what? That there’s some sort of weird cult around here?”

  Both women chuckled.

  “Not a cult, sweetie. Let’s explain, Layla,” Angelina said, and then both women began to talk about the town, about the rules of the town and about ménage relationships.